The present invention relates to the field of data processing. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and system for multi-dimensional rendering of data, by providing the user with a dynamic interface to the data, using the simultaneous display of several dimensions and continuous colors for comparative measurements.
Many modern organizations accumulate large amounts of information, which is stored in commercial database systems which are available in the market, or in custom designed data warehouses. Computers are used to access the databases and retrieve data, and/or to add and store new data. Databases have been at the back-end of most legacy systems. Each such system had it""s own front end user application. Data was normally dispersed in numerous legacy system databases, and therefore, the entire data could not be accessed as a whole. Data warehouses were created to access all relevant data. Data warehouse collect data from various legacy systems into a centralized repository, allowing queries on the entire data stored by the organization.
On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) server technology was developed to enable quick querying of the data. OLAP servers utilize special algorithms to store aggregated and consolidated data in a way that rapidly provides answers to multidimensional queries, allowing for essential on-line analysis of the data. Available OLAP client software connects users to OLAP servers through proprietary or open interfaces. Data is retrieved using user queries, and is then processed and presented to the user. The user actually serves as the front-end interface to the stored data, through which investigation and analysis are performed.
OLAP became a widespread and powerful tool, for allowing users to identify and better understand trends and events which mostly influence their businesses, as well as problematic key points. OLAP provides the user with intuitive tools for viewing and analyzing data. However, current technology for the presentation of data taken from OLAP databases lacks the capability of simultaneously rendering data from multidimensional aspects and several measurements, and therefore limits the user""s capability, whenever fast analysis and understanding of complex data is desired. Moreover, OLAP technology lacks simple visual parameters, which rapidly direct the user to main key-points and allow him to obtain inferences related to massive raw data.
Excel (to Microsoft corporation Redmond WA, USA) is a spreadsheet software, in which data can be presented in two or three dimensional graphs, or as tables. However, presentation of multidimensional data requires many such two or three-dimensional graphs, which are complex and cumbersome for analysis and presentation of the linkage between different dimensions.
All the prior art methods have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problem of providing the user with means to interactively analyze multidimensional data in an intuitive way.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for the on-line analysis of multidimensional data.
It is another object of the invention to provide means efficiently outlining to the user key data points out of a multidimensional data field containing up to very large amount of data points.
It is a further object of the invention to provide means for carrying out a multi-layered parametric investigation
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.
In the description to follow, the following terms have the meanings defined below:
A dimension is a structural attribute that is a list of members, all of which are of similar data type in the users"" perception. For example all continents, countries, cities make up a geography dimension. A dimension acts as an index for identifying values within a multi-dimensional array.
A dimension member is a discrete name or identifier used to identify a data items position and description within a dimension. For example, January, or the first quarter of 1993, are typical examples of members of the Time dimension.
A single data-point that occurs at the intersection defined by selecting one member from each dimension in a multidimensional array (database).
A group of data cells arranged by the dimensions of the data. For example, a spreadsheet exemplifies a two-dimensional array with the data cells arranged in rows and columns, each being a dimension. A three-dimensional array can be visualized as a cube with each dimension forming a side of the cube, including any slice parallel with that side. Higher dimensional arrays have no physical metaphor, but they organize the data in the way the users think of the enterprise. Typical enterprise dimensions are time, products, geographical regions, sales channels, etc. Also referred to as a multi-dimensional cube.
Values stored for each cell in a multi-dimensional array. Each cell may store one or more measurements. For example quantity, profit, prices.
Any dimension""s members may be organized based on parent-child relationships, typically where a parent member represents the consolidation of the members which are its children. The result is a hierarchy, and the parent/child relationships are hierarchical relationships. For example, hierarchy related to time dimension may be days, aggregated to weeks, months etc.
Drilling down or up is a specific analytical technique whereby the user navigates among levels of data ranging from the most summarized (up) to the most detailed (down). The drilling paths may be defined by the hierarchies within dimensions or other relationships that may be dynamic within or between dimensions. For example, when viewing sales data for North America, a drill down operation in the Region dimension would the display Canada, the Eastern United States and the Western United states.
Rotation is the process whereby the dimensions, which are to be displayed together in a view, are chosen.
A selection is a process whereby a criterion is evaluated against the data or members of a dimension in order to restrict the set of data retrieved.
The user-initiated process of navigating by calling different displays interactively, through the specification of views via rotation, selection, dimension member scoping and drill down/up.
An OLAP server is a data manipulation engine specifically designed to support and operate on multi-dimensional data structures. A multi-dimensional structure is arranged so that every data item is located and accessed based on the intersection of the dimension members, which define that item. The design of the server and the structure of the data are optimized for rapid ad-hoc information retrieval in any orientation, as well as for fast, flexible calculation and transformation of raw data based on formulaic relationships.
End user applications that can request slices from OLAP servers and provide two-dimensional or multi-dimensional displays, user modification, selections, ranking, calculations, etc., for visualization and navigation purposes.
Transaction based database systems (usually implemented on relational database technology) that tracks and stores operational data, allowing modifications of the input and the output from the database.
The invention is directed to a method for the interactive graphical presentation of multidimensional data to a user. Data is extracted from an n dimensional accessible database, arranged and stored according to predetermined data attributes. The attributes represent different measures for each dimension. A data processing means coupled to said database, is used for extracting data from the database and for processing the extracted data for a predetermined presentation. The data processing means comprises a user interface for communicating with the user and a display for displaying the presentation to the user. Upon receiving a request for presentation from the user, data which is relevant to the request is extracted from the corresponding dimension(s) in the database, process by the processing means and displayed in two or more separate windows linked to each other. Each window corresponds to a single dimension and contains comparative presentation of the data related to this single dimension. The comparative presentation in each window contains one or more visual parameter(s), such as colored bars, used by the user as comparative measurement of displayed data, relative to other displayed data. Preferably, each dimension comprises one or more members, and each data point in the database is determined by the combination of individual members, or by values representing a combination or a transformation of a plurality of individual members with a dimension. Each individual member value is selected from a different dimension.
Preferably, the processing means may be software installed in a workstation, or a processing circuitry. The interface to the user may be a mouse and/or a keyboard, connected to a workstation.
The length and/or color of each bar is related to the length and/or color of all other bars in the window, over a predefined color scale. Preferably, user-controllable visual selection means for one or more visual parameters are provided to the user, for displaying data dimensions relevant to one or more selected parameters. Upon selecting one or more visual parameter in a window, all other visual parameters in said window are disselected, and the presentation is updated with data dimensions relevant only to the selected visual parameter(s).